Briancoppinsia, a new coelomycetous genus of Arthoniaceae (Arthoniales) for the lichenicolous Phoma cytospora, with a key to this and similar taxa

Morphological, anatomical, chemical and molecular data suggest that a relatively common lichenicolous coelomycete on Lecanora conizaeoides is conspecific with Phoma cytospora, previously known only from parmelioid lichens, and that further populations on Cladonia and Pertusaria belong to the same species. This species is distinguished from Phoma by several taxonomically important characters and obviously represents a previously unrecognized genus, for which the name Briancoppinsia is introduced. Phylogenetic analyses using nuLSU and mtSSU sequences of isolates obtained in pure culture suggest that the new genus belongs to the Arthoniaceae (Arthoniales). This is the first obligate lichenicolous, non-lichenized anamorph confirmed to belong to the Arthoniales based on molecular data.